It is so much like attraction exercised by magic.

Solitude, Intellectual Honesty and Friendship

Artists need solitude. Too much time is wasted on the pose, playing the part, attempting to seduce the world at large with a glittering surface.
Solitude is necessary if you wish to cut through the noise of expectation, self image and desire.

An effort must also be made to avoid the false echo of private romance. It may charm but indulging it will only serve to hamper if not entirely prevent the possibility of forming an authentic relationship between the observer and the observed. In its place we would have every kind of conceptual shackle foisted upon a world that would otherwise freely yield, without coercion, a host of conceptions and ideas, harmonizing the many facets of its own nature to our own level of understanding and ability as painters.

Artists also need one another. They need friendship. They need criticism that can be learned from and admiration that strengthens rather than corrupts. This becomes especially important when one’s work is critiqued as there is no guarantee that it will be assessed by highly competent and constructive critics. It is more likely that you will be either pointlessly trashed or stupidly celebrated.